Brett Kavanaugh Claims He Grew Up in ‘City Plagued By Gun Violence,’ Is Full of It

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh baffled many when he claimed during his confirmation hearing to have grown up in an area “plagued by gun violence,” as Newsweek reports.

Kavanaugh’s statement was made in response to a question by Democratic Senator from California Dianne Feinstein, regarding a 2011 dissent in which he argued that Washington, D.C.’s assault weapons ban was unconstitutional.

Kavanaugh told Sen. Feinstein that he was from Washington, D.C., which he deemed “the murder capital of the world.”

“I grew up in a city plagued by gun violence and gang violence and drug violence,” he said. “So I fully understand, as I explained in the opinion, the importance of this issue.”

However, in the days since the comment was first made on Wednesday, many have pointed out that Kavanaugh grew up in a suburban town of means just northwest of D.C.

While Kavanaugh was born in D.C. proper, he grew up in the affluent suburb of Bethesda, Md. He attended the highly renowned Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, which quite literally has an on-campus golf course. Other notable alumni include U.S. Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch and former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, a pair of notorious street toughs if ever there was one.

“I grew up in Brett Kavanaugh’s neighborhood in suburban Maryland, and I can tell you if he spent any time seriously thinking about D.C. gun violence, he was the only person there who did,” Jon Schwartz, a journalist for The Intercept, wrote on Twitter. “While Brett Kavanaugh says ‘I grew up in a city plagued by gun violence and gang violence,’ I remember Bethesda, Md. more as being plagued by enormous amounts of soccer practice.”

The Washington Post’s senior regional correspondent Robert McCartney made a similar comment: “I grew up in Bethesda too, and I live there now. Kavanaugh knows perfectly well that [the] biggest complaint was difficulty finding lawn care.”

Former National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller, who lives in Bethesda, pointed out that rather than gun violence, Bethesda is filled with dangerously tempting desserts. “I live in Bethesda and all I can say is WHAT?! The only thing Bethesda is plagued with is gourmet cupcakes and artisanal gelato,” Schiller joked.

Bethesda made Forbes’ list of America’s most educated small towns in 2015, topping the list for its third year in a row, and was number one on Time Money’s list of top-earning towns in 2014, with a family median income of $197,622 and a median home price of $825,000.

So is this an extreme case of lacking self-awareness, or does Kavanaugh know he’s bending the truth? Not a great question to have to ask about a man being considered for the Supreme Court.